Six Super Cell Phone Photo Projects Your English and Foreign Language Learners Will Love

If your learners have any high-tech imaging devices like4. Different Viewpoints
a cell phone with photo-taking capability, a digitalHow can you photograph something from the
camera or they have a digital camcorder, you canviewpoints of over, under, around, through, on, beside,
assign them one of these six diverse high visual impactbehind, across from or between? Let your EFL
projects to help them explore not only theirlearners figure it all out and record their ideas. Hopefully
high-technology devices, but boost their EFL (English asyou'll get shots from worm's eye views to bird's eye
a foreign language) production skills as well.views and a plethora of views in between.
1. A Scavenger Hunt5. Photojournalism
Assign your English as a Foreign Language learners toFor this multi-faceted project learners shoot up to half
get digital photos of from 10 to 20 or so items.a dozen or so photographs to illustrate a short written
Locations of these items should be in or near theor spoken discourse to be presented in class. This
classroom and well within the school or institute facilitycould be in small groups, in pairs of learners or
campus. Photos of what, you might ask? Here areindividually prepared by each EFL learner.
some suggested topics:o Close-upso Occupationso6. Abstracts
Colorso Landscapeso Natureo TechnologyIf it worked for Salvadore Dali and Pablo Picasso, why
2. A Rainbowshouldn't it work for your EFL learners as well? They
No, not necessarily a real one, but EFL learners willwill base their abstract photos on a particular color or
photograph illustrations of the different colors that canother theme selected either by you - or even better
be found in objects all around them. Start with theyet - by the learners. And oh yes, you might want to
basic colors of red, orange, yellow, green, blue, purple,pre-approve themes and topics first. Why? To avoid
gray, brown, black and white.any incidences of "objectionable" or borderline obscene
3. Verb Illustrationscontent of any type, that's why.
The idea here is to show verbs in a staged or naturalSo if your EFL learners have a cell phone with
photo. You can specify regular or irregular verbs likephoto-taking capability, or they have a digital camera,
jump, run, play, talk, walk, sing, laugh, or whateverone of these diverse projects can help them to
others you may wish or leave the choice open to thesharpen their visual-spatial multiple intelligence abilities
English language learners. I've often found this lastand aid in boosting their English as a foreign language
option to be more interesting and diverse for both theskills too.
EFL learners and me.